Some cows just aren't fit to be mom's.

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True Grit Farms

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We have a cow that just calved for the third time, and she's a 2012 model. She breeds back quickly never longer than 11 months, and her calf will gain close to 2.5lbs a day. She's been a great cow, but a terrible mom. She will not take the calf, and tries to hurt the calf until she comes into milk. We put her in the squeeze chute and the calf does it's job fine. After a couple of days everything will be good as gold. I'm done screwing with her, she will be sold at the barn heavy bred in the fall.
 
Frustrating situation. I've seen this same scenario several times. I've also seen this trait passed on to a daughter, which leads me to believe it may be hereditary in some cases. A 2x4 across the head helps some understand, but they always forget by the next time they calve. One thing that I have seen work is bringing a dog around the calf and cow. Sometimes it awakens their "motherly" instinct.
 
True Grit Farms":3t2edva2 said:
We have a cow that just calved for the third time, and she's a 2012 model. She breeds back quickly never longer than 11 months, and her calf will gain close to 2.5lbs a day. She's been a great cow, but a terrible mom. She will not take the calf, and tries to hurt the calf until she comes into milk. We put her in the squeeze chute and the calf does it's job fine. After a couple of days everything will be good as gold. I'm done screwing with her, she will be sold at the barn heavy bred in the fall.

I'm surprised you've fiddled with her this long.
 
callmefence":3hvzr5en said:
True Grit Farms":3hvzr5en said:
We have a cow that just calved for the third time, and she's a 2012 model. She breeds back quickly never longer than 11 months, and her calf will gain close to 2.5lbs a day. She's been a great cow, but a terrible mom. She will not take the calf, and tries to hurt the calf until she comes into milk. We put her in the squeeze chute and the calf does it's job fine. After a couple of days everything will be good as gold. I'm done screwing with her, she will be sold at the barn heavy bred in the fall.

I'm surprised you've fiddled with her this long.

:dunce:
 
True Grit Farms":2tyh9hmt said:
We have a cow that just calved for the third time, and she's a 2012 model. She breeds back quickly never longer than 11 months, and her calf will gain close to 2.5lbs a day. She's been a great cow, but a terrible mom. She will not take the calf, and tries to hurt the calf until she comes into milk. We put her in the squeeze chute and the calf does it's job fine. After a couple of days everything will be good as gold. I'm done screwing with her, she will be sold at the barn heavy bred in the fall.
I thought you didn't fiddle with cows :lol:
I never have any I need to convince it's their calf
 
We had that same problem a couple times, but it was with our older cows who were just tired of being moms. As soon as they would drop the calf they just kept on walking never ever looking back to see the newborn. We cleared out all of our old cows that year and replaced them with much better younger cows who were excellent mothers.
 
We had 1 cow do that with her second calf. On the third day she went to the killpen at the sale barn and the vet took in her daughter "Lil Orphan Annie" for his daughter to raise. Annie is now 8 years old and has raised a good calf every year since she turned 2. Her daughters have also made good cows for him, he uses her and them now as recips.
 
Some of this is genetic. There are a number of "Great old bulls" in the Angus breed that were known to sire daughters that were calf-killers and others which sired daughters that walked away. Find the link, cull and live easier.
 
We had one who tried to kill every single calf she ever had. Her calves would grow like weeds once she accepted them, but I ended up bottle raising one of them anyway. Haven't had any problems with her daughters yet. Another cow who acted the very same way passed the trait on to her daughters. Needless to say, they all got shipped.
 
I realize that it is buyer beware at the sales, but I will NEVER KNOWINGLY sell a cow that has an attitude with her calf. So, as much as I realize that you want to get the most money for the cow, I have a hard time with pawning off a cow like that to someone else. My son and I had a few rows over that sort of thing, until he bought some cows and found out that they were problem cows from someone else, and we had problems with them too. Now he agrees that we will not put a *%$#@* cow back with a bull to get rebred. She will go to pasture and raise her calf where there is no bull and then they both will go. Just our way.... and yes, we buy and sell some cows, and know we are taking a chance when we buy breds....but I won't purposely sell someone else a cow that is a problem.
 
farmerjan":1je58olo said:
I realize that it is buyer beware at the sales, but I will NEVER KNOWINGLY sell a cow that has an attitude with her calf. So, as much as I realize that you want to get the most money for the cow, I have a hard time with pawning off a cow like that to someone else. My son and I had a few rows over that sort of thing, until he bought some cows and found out that they were problem cows from someone else, and we had problems with them too. Now he agrees that we will not put a *%$#@* cow back with a bull to get rebred. She will go to pasture and raise her calf where there is no bull and then they both will go. Just our way.... and yes, we buy and sell some cows, and know we are taking a chance when we buy breds....but I won't purposely sell someone else a cow that is a problem.
what they said, I'd send her to slaughter
 
dun":3krqjyn5 said:
We had 1 cow do that with her second calf. On the third day she went to the killpen at the sale barn and the vet took in her daughter "Lil Orphan Annie" for his daughter to raise. Annie is now 8 years old and has raised a good calf every year since she turned 2. Her daughters have also made good cows for him, he uses her and them now as recips.

We have a Lil Orphan Annie! But her mama was a downer from a spinal injury - bless her heart, she would roll on her side to let her calf nurse. Annie has turned out to be a great mama, due with her 3rd calf.
 
I had one heifer skip town - literally dropped her calf & bolted across the pasture. Came back & tried to gank another calf but wouldn't claim her own. Penned her up with her calf for a week before she would accept her and she ended up bawling the most at weaning. She's now due with her 4th & I've retained 2 of her heifers. Satan ditched one of her calves after 3 days but evidently not uncommon with twins. And yes, I bottle fed the abandoned twin and she's due with her 3rd. Having said that, I would be inclined to ship your cow, Grit. Buh-bye!
 
Caustic Burno":17lbhkj9 said:
That is the reason the salebarn is not for rookies.

True and agreed. It's buyer beware and you know you're playing with fire.

Still wish we could all be better toward each other anyway.
 
angus9259":gcb7kqe6 said:
Caustic Burno":gcb7kqe6 said:
That is the reason the salebarn is not for rookies.

True and agreed. It's buyer beware and you know you're playing with fire.

Still wish we could all be better toward each other anyway.

Ninety percent of my girls came from the salebarn. The salebarn is not an evil place. You can successfully buy great stock through the barn .
It is all about doing your homework
 
skeeter swatter":fhgbsm3a said:
farmerjan":fhgbsm3a said:
I realize that it is buyer beware at the sales, but I will NEVER KNOWINGLY sell a cow that has an attitude with her calf. So, as much as I realize that you want to get the most money for the cow, I have a hard time with pawning off a cow like that to someone else. My son and I had a few rows over that sort of thing, until he bought some cows and found out that they were problem cows from someone else, and we had problems with them too. Now he agrees that we will not put a *%$#@* cow back with a bull to get rebred. She will go to pasture and raise her calf where there is no bull and then they both will go. Just our way.... and yes, we buy and sell some cows, and know we are taking a chance when we buy breds....but I won't purposely sell someone else a cow that is a problem.
what they said, I'd send her to slaughter

She'll make someone a great cow that wants to screw with her for a day. She's back in the herd and acting like the worlds best mom. If you want a good cow go buy it off a farm. I just spent $1950. to replace her, and someone will buy my cow for $8-900. if I'm lucky. So every heifer that I sell at the barn should be sold for slaughter only? I buy from the barn and there's no warranty or guarantees.
 
No I didn't say that every heifer that you sell at the barn should be sold for slaughter only. And I did say that we also buy at the barns with no guarantee and take our chances. But I simply said that I will not sell a cow that has a known attitude like that as a bred cow. Just my way.
 

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